Problem
Case: Poppy
Since 2015, we've been passionately focused on creating a platform that could serve our mission of building the modern village. In many important ways, we were tremendously successful in bringing the original mission and intent to life. Turns out it IS possible to build a delightful, trustworthy, and convenient experience connecting caregivers and families. The challenge has been the underlying business model that would enable such a community of families and caregivers to grow at scale. While there are many important complexities, it really boils down to the core economics of what it costs to deliver this end-to-end experience.
Families have been pushing for lower-priced tiers, and caregivers are constantly moving on to pursue higher-paying opportunities. Despite that, Poppy has continued to experiment as much as possible to find a viable option for maintaining this model. However, after 3+ years of this dedicated experimentation, it is evident that the cost of creating this type of product is beyond what families are willing or able to pay.
We are deeply grateful for the opportunity we have had to serve your families and as you might imagine, this is a tremendously hard decision. We are doing everything we can to make the transition as smooth as possible.
Looking back, where we started
In 2015, I had a problem I couldn't get out of my mind. We had just welcomed our daughter into our family but were new to Seattle and, without family in town, I'd never felt more stressed about parenthood. And every other parent I talked to had a similar story. For me, it boiled down to not having this "village" that I felt I was promised before becoming a parent but was nowhere to be seen within the realities of modern parenthood.
The curiosity for why this was became so great that I felt compelled to see if it could be created by connecting the people in our communities to families using data and technology, in a trustworthy, affordable and convenient way. I found an equally painful experience for caregivers - difficulty connecting easily with trusted families, getting paid their worth and having the work be respected for the hard, skilled job it is. I saw a vision where we could build the platform that found the amazing people that had the talents and passion to provide childcare and that connected them simply and seamlessly to the families that needed care. Presto! Village.
Over the following 3+ years, we continued to grow by word of mouth with a product that we never stopped iterating on, experimenting our way around the many roadblocks. But even an incredible product without sustainable underlying business model and dynamics cannot survive.
It's been incredible to look back upon what we've built - from having done over 36,000 bookings to serving over 5000 families to working with over 700 caregivers. We've built a truly "rave-worthy" service that families share readily with fellow parents as a "must-have" parenting resource. We've worked to create more transparency and dialogue around the critical and vital role of caregiving and what that work is worth
i. What Marketing Research could Poppy have done before launch that would have altered their fate?
ii. How could Poppy's product offering been different to ensure their success?
iii. What Traction Channels could Poppy have used to scale the business to ensure long-term financial success?